More cool zoo excitement

We spent Sunday afternoon enjoying a little zoo action New Jersey style, with our friends Liam and Julie. Every zoo in the area has something different to make it stand out from the competition. It looks like this one is fun because it has some good local and South American animals, plus it's situated in a park with other kid-friendly attractions.


Our first stop was the farm animals, of course. The cows, complete with sizable horns, were of particular interest, though it was the donkeys Penny had requested by name. We spent a lot of time with the mountain lions as they paced and growled. I was amused by how many animals Penny recognized from Diego on Nickelodeon. It took me a minute to realize she was naming some of them in Spanish (le dimos "Buenos dias," al Senor Tucan, por ejemplo). She was pretty sure she could actually ride the Andean Condor like Diego does after seeing it in person.

The other excitement at the zoo was the train. It does a short loop around the outside of the zoo, which just added to the anticipation each time the kids saw it pass behind the enclosures. Being on the pereimeter, we got to see some of the more of the behind the scenes areas, like the train shed, some supply areas, and animals who were hiding from the public. Plus, we had some really rewarding whistle blowing and general train sights and sounds.

Penny took the opportunity to explore her photography interests, snapping some great shots of bison, bunnies and elk. All in all a great day. Satisfying and WAY cheaper than Bronx Zoo.

posted from Bloggeroid

Another Try

We have officially made it through the first trimester, so it feels a little better to share our big news. Our checkup on Monday went really well - my little passenger was kind enough to be quite squiggly since the sonographer took her sweet time checking on the heartbeat. Heartbeat is strong and so far no sign of Down's syndrome (standard test at this phase and convenient excuse to get tons of pictures of the little one). So all signs good so far.

It has been a harrowing experience up to this point. Last thing my doctors told me after Augustine was that I should see them immediately whenever I got pregnant again so I could start treatment for blood clotting disease. I had no real desire to see them again, though, because I found bedside manner abrasive and knew they didn't want to deliver the way I wanted. So I knew I needed to have another doctor in mind when we tried again.

Thankfully, we met another mom who lost like we had and she recommended her doctor, who specializes in high risk pregnancies. He seems very nice. Unfortunately, it's his policy not to see a patient until seven weeks along. We lost Morgan at six weeks and I know really early when I'm pregnant, so waiting for that appointment to come around was like slow torture. I was so scared that I'd lose the baby right before that first appointment, like I had with Morgan. I get that you often can't find a heartbeat before seven weeks, so appointments before that could be more anxiety-causing than resolving, but I was a basket case. The doctor seems to understand that, though, and at that first appointment when I asked to try to hear the heart, he arranged for a sonogram. So I got to see the little heart beating away that day and walked away with pictures. He also totally read my entire medical files that I sent to him, which is more than I've come to expect of late. I'm feeling good about him.

So far I'm feeling generally good, little bit of heartburn every night, but that's not bad in the grand scheme. Really sleepy, so most nights I put Penny to bed, then turn in myself. This means I don't get much of anything done, so I've been a bit behind on birthday cards for the past couple of months (among other things). Sorry. The exhaustion should wear off a bit soon I'm hoping, though I'm not looking forward to battling through my public transit commute at full term. Too much rushing to jockey for position and being forced to stand if you're too slow.

Please keep us in your prayers as we embark on this exciting, but occasionally worrisome journey again.

posted from Bloggeroid

Mother's Day

Belated Happy Mother's Day to those of you who enjoyed such festivities this past weekend. Penny seemed to think this weekend was her birthday again...I guess it was a bit much to expect her to understand when I explained that I get to celebrate the weekend because God gave her to us. Perhaps this also explains why she is unable to answer the question, "How old are you?" She's had at least four birthdays by her count, just since this past November.

We celebrated by heading over to the Staten Island Zoo. After saying hello to colleagues, we headed out to see the animals. Dan was particularly impressed by how many and how showy the peacocks were. While we ate lunch, he went outside several times to capture images of the fanned out tails as two males vied for the attention of a single female. I think the prairie dogs were less than thrilled, though, because the whole scene was playing out on top of their burrows.

Once finished with lunch, we headed over to the petting zoo section. I went straight to the food guy and got a packet of rye crisp crackers to feed the animals. She really wanted to feed the fluffy sheep - she's been singing "Penny had a little lamb" and calling her puppy her little lamb for a few weeks.unfortunately, they were completely uninterested in the crackers.

Ahh, but the donkeys were more obliging. They were more than happy to wrap their lips around the whole crackers Penny offered them. As our pack rapidly diminished amidst Penny's giggles, my cheapskate gene kicked in. I demonstrated how to break up the crackers and we moved to animals with smaller mouths. The llamas were ok, rabbits were great as they took so long to chew that Penny had time to talk to them between mouthfuls. She complimented them on being good eaters, told them where to pick up fallen bits, and commented and their fluffiness.

Confusingly, she seemed to have no desire to pet the animals in the PETTING zoo. Whenever I showed her how to pet the animals, she'd grab my arm and direct my petting, but she wouldn't replace me or pet alongside me. Because I do animal handling and am not a fan of forcing kids to pet, I didn't make her pet anything, but it did seem odd that she was scared of all these animals that most people love to pet. She has pet a snake or two, I think, when I've brought her to work before and worms are no problem on most occasions. It's a weird clade bias to have..."cute furry things, ewww!"

We also splurged and got some duck food. Wow! She fed each little kernal individually to the ducks. Daddy helped direct her to the ducks who weren't getting their fair share. There were lots of lovely little ducks who may usually get overpowered by the big domestic guys in there. The silver wood ducks were especially lovely. Dan was also excited to see a real live Mandarin Duck. Once upon a time, in his stuffed duck collecting days, he had purchased a custom-designed or hand-painted Mandarin Duck for a particularly landmark event (I'm leaning toward wedding proposal, but it might have been completing his Master's). So it was fun seeing how the stuffed animal compares to the real deal. Both are very beautiful ducks.

After several hours of exploring and animal feeding, we were able to pry the reluctant Penny away from the zoo. Ever since, she has been asking to feed animals. I tried to do a little at home action by working with her to shred up some bread she didn't eat at dinner on Monday, but the birds in our neighborhood appear to be completely unfamiliar with the concept. The bread is still sitting on our front walk, untouched. These NYC critters are tough tp figure out. They'll go after KFC, but not bread crumbs?! Creepy little cannibals.